Roman Candle: The Life of Bobby Darin

Roman Candle: The Life of Bobby Darin by Evanier, David. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781594860102.

A sensitive, startling portrait of the legendary singer-timed to hit stores just as the Kevin Spacey movie Beyond the Sea has kindled intense new interest in every aspect of Darins life and tragically early death. By age 8 Bobby Darin knew he was doomed to die young. So he set out to become a showbiz legend by age 25. From his Grammy-winning smash hit "Mack the Knife" to his Oscar-nominated supporting role in Captain Newman, M.D., Darin left his mark on every aspect of show business that he touched. Now, 32 years after his death at age 37, we finally have an elegantly written, multilayered portrait of this brash, gifted artist. Author David Evanier has: o Interviewed all the key principals in the Darin saga and culled rare photographs from the singers closest friends o Pored through scores of videotapes, audiotapes, recordings, documents, and films o Re-created the rock-and-roll and Broadway show- business milieus of the 1950s that Darin emerged from, and the sharply changing musical, political, and cultural world of the 1960s that had such a profound impact on him. The result is a moving, insightful portrait of one of the greatest-and most complex-performers in the history of American entertainment, whose restless voice and spirit seem as alive today as ever.